Xeros Greens The Business of Laundry

Are you the sort of person who obeys the now-ubiquitous request to hang up your hotel room towels for reuse, instead of requiring housekeeping to wash them every day of your stay? Then you'll appreciate washing machine technology being developed by a British company called Xeros that uses up to 70 percent less water and 50 percent less energy per cycle than traditional alternatives.

Xeros, spawned out of research conducted at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, is pioneering an approach that uses reusable polymer beads that look like plastic to cut down on the amount of water and energy used to heat up and complete a cycle.

The researchers actually were trying to solve the opposite problem – helping dyes stay colorfast in textiles longer – when they figured out it could work in reverse for removing stains, said Jonathan Benjamin, president of Xeros North America, the company's U.S. subsidiary in Manchester, N.H.

The machine looks pretty much like a typical washing machine (see photo), with the exception of a wet sump pump that is used to store the beads.

During the wash cycle, the beads are added into the load, where they displace water and help remove stains from soiled sheets, towels and other fabrics, according to Xeros technical materials. The dirt released by the soiled items is captured and stored by the beads along the way. When the wash is complete, the beads are removed from the load. Each set can be used for hundreds of washes before being collected and recycled into car dashboards, Benjamin said.

For the time being, at least, you won't be able to buy one of the Xeros machines for your personal laundry room.

The initial target for the technology is the $100 billion global laundry industry, which includes both hospitality and commercial cleaners. The U.S. subsidiary, based in New Hampshire, is testing prototypes with several early customers including the Hyatt Regency in Reston, Va.; Crest Cleaners in Clifton, Va.; and Sterling Linen in Manchester, N.H. The estimated savings on laundry costs are projected at 50 percent. “Xeros has absolutely delivered on the promises of savings and superior performance," said David Eisenmann, general manager at the Hyatt Regency in Reston.

Xeros also believes that there are long-term benefits when it comes to a reduced need for linen replacement, although that's still being proved out.

While he won't disclose specific price points, Benjamin said the technology will be price-competitive with legacy technologies, especially when the cost of water, energy and detergent are factored into the equation.

The company's relatively recent relationship with
BASF could help accelerate things. The long-term agreement, announced in May 2013, is intended to help commercialize the Xeros technology more cost-effectively. "On the one side, as a globally active chemical company we can support Xeros through our global network and the worldwide availability of materials," said Matthias Dietrich, with BASF's Engineering Plastics Europe business unit. "On the other side, we can make use of our strong research and development base, which can provide tailormade plastics with specific combinations of properties."